The Alexander Palace Time Machine Discussion Forum

I agree with you that divorce between the reigning Tsar and Tsarina was unthinkable.  But as far a scandalous, IMO the relationship was more of a slap in the face to the dying Empress.  And certainly a perceived threat to the rest of the Romanov family.

Was AI a Romanov by blood as well?   I read she was a descendant of Tsar Paul.

Not to divert from the subject, but I recently read a book by Antonia Fraser regarding Marie Antoinette. It mentions that she is related to the doomed Alix of Hesse through the Hessian line.  Since these two women share many similar life events, could someone explain how they are related?

thanks in advance!

lori

Wow! I thought it was Ella!

What sort of reaction did Catherine II of Russia have to this?

Ernie was definitely an indulgent father. But IMO I feel Ducky was very young when little Elisabeth was born and the cracks in the marriage were already beginning to show.

After the divorce, it would take Ducky the whole six months the child would spend with her to break down the barriers the poor child had built around herself in response to feeling abandoned by Ducky.

Wikipedia had this to say about the films that have been made at Hatfield House

Many interior scenes of the Wayne Manor in the 1989 film Batman and the 1992 sequel Batman Returns were shot at Hatfield House.[1]
The outside scenes of the Lara Croft movies with Angelina Jolie were shot at Hatfield House.
It appears in The New World (2005) with Colin Farrell.
The house appears in major scenes in the film The Golden Age, released in 2007 as a sequel to Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush.
Hatfield House was used to portray Chartley Hall, where Mary Queen of Scots, played by Samantha Morton, was kept captive before her execution, in the film The Golden Age.
The most important aspect in all the movies seems to be the very British atmosphere and architecture, such as the huge size of the manor and its park.

Other films include, "Cromwell" with Alec Guinness, west side of the house, "The Avengers" with Sean Connery over looking the maze, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with Johnny Depp

Also, Hatfield House website infers that the Tree is still on the Grounds.

Some people think that Alexandra was the pivotal one though- certainly there were times when her actions, although not intentionally, did pave the way to the Revolution. Certainly, had not Nicholas had a hemophiliac son, things would have been different. But, Irene carried hemophilia too. I am not particularly interested in her, but she seems the quiet one out of the Hesse sisters ( or children) for that matter. All of her siblings stood out, and she doesn't seem to have as much.

She does seem to be the "quiet" one out of her siblings.  Was her husband regarded this way as well?

It's doubtful she would have received dispensation, IMO.  Conversion from Catholicism was extremely rare especially in those circumstances.  Look at Helene of Orleans.  Threats of excommunication were hurled when faced with the same situation.

Certainly the sisters were different in that respect.  They had different views because of their vastly different circumstances.
Irene seemed to possess a much different view of her life because her life WAS different. And sitting on any throne would probably affected her as well, in her own way. 

Though all the sisters were devout and pious women, It seems that Irene didn't go overboard as her sister did when it came to the hemophilia of her sons.  That is to say, it seemed to be a very personal situation for her and she dealt with it - once again - in her own way. 

Ella and AF dealt with their pain through thorough immersion Russian Orthodox Faith, whereas IMO, I don't find that with their Lutheran siblings. Though certainly religious.  Irene seemed to have the no-nonsense trait the VMH had as well.  Nothing dreamy, only stark reality.

Didn't they always write in English?  Alice hadn't yet left for Darmstadt and english was there first language. I wonder if Alice kept the letters and took them with her to Hesse which is why they are in the archives there and not in Windsor?

Quite probably the Hesse Archives acquired the letters to add to what they were in possession of already?

Well, AF problems are certainly discussed in her own threads.  But in consideration of Irene, I think it was relevant that the point was made that she made a point to keep a low profile in the Prussian court.  It doesn't appear she aspired to be anything more than what she was.  IMO, she did display a certain stregnth that was something all her sisters had, in accepting anything that came her way.  She performed what was expected of her as a Princess and a member of the Royal family in addition to having the burden of knowing that her sons were never far from danger or death, just as all the hemophiliac descendants of QV.  She seemed to have the no-nonsense of VMH, the strength of character of Ella with the willingness to rise above her own problemes and help other just as AF did (as all the sisters did).   Somehow she seems an amalgamation of all the traits displayed by her siblings.

She certainly did possess a strength of character that nobody seemed to give her credit for. She endured much especially during the family's imprisonment and Louis XVI subsequent execution.  IMO she wasn't thinking of her mother so much as showing her strength as a mother, a wife and a Queen - some of which she inherited from Maria Theresa and some I feel she possessed on her own due to circumstances.

I too like aspects of all the Hessian sisters.  Their common denominator was their desire to help others and emulating Princess Alice's own life when she came to Darmstadt.  And IMO it is not comparable to say Irene would have been better suited to be Empress much less NII wife. 

MF and AIII were vying for a dynastic marriage that never came to fruition.  Had AIII lived, perhaps together AIII and MF would have come around and not have minded letting NII marry whom he wished.  AIII agreed it seems because he knew he was dying.  But being relatively young and newly widowed, MF was still in mourning and had to give her position to whomever NII married.  Irene or not, the position of Empress was critical.  The Russian people would have judged anyone harshly, I think, because they had loved MF and were charmed by her.   The new Empress would have to fill that void left by MF.  There really is no proof either way that Irene would have done a better job. 

She was good at keeping low profile and dealt with her sons' hemophilia in her own way.  But her role, a Bsquared said, was not as dynastically important nor were that of her sons.  Keeping a low profile is not what being a Russian Empress was all about.  As AF tried to do because of her innate shyness and the results of course speak for themselves.

From what I have read in Born to Rule, by Julia Gelardi, the Empress Frederick sent all her "papers" to England before she died to keep them out of the hands of her son ( as did Frederick III).  I assume these papers included peronsal correspondence with her family.  Perhaps Queen Elizabeth is in possession of them now.